Funny enough, while I’ve had TJ Alexander’s books on my TBR for a while, I hadn’t heard of this one til it was the book club pick for this month for one of my many book clubs.
I definitely would recommend this to anyone who is in the beginnings of reading poly romances or learning about them in general. It’s a fun, romantic, and sweet story while also doing a pretty great job of explaining how poly relationships work.
To start off, the main characters: Mel, Bebe, and Kade. Mel is our oblivious, cynical, bar tender who hasn’t dated since her divorce, which just so happened to be her only romantic relationship and it lasted for ten years. Bebe is a bubbly and bright lawyer who wants everyone around her to be happy. Kade is married to Bebe, and is an autistic (my reading), artistic, nonbinary shy little bean who we just want to wrap in a blanket and bring hot cocoa. Oh that’s just me? Mmmmkay.
I found all the characters so completely real. While at times Mel was a bit dumb and annoying, I still appreciated how flawed she was. But seriously she does need to go to therapy. The relationship between Mel and Bebe is the first one established, which progresses from casual to serious. The relationship between Kade and Mel is much more fraught at the beginning. Mel is socially and emotionally constipated, which doesn’t help with Kade’s autistic coding, so they keep clashing. When the three of them are supposed to take a vacation, Bebe gets stuck at work, and Kade and Mel’s relationship evolves to romance. It’s really adorable how their relationship comes about but after that it feels like their relationship wasn’t given the same amount of attention as Mel and Bebe’s. I suspect part of this is because the three of them soon join as a thruple/throuple, so the focus moves towards how all three of them work.
The best aspect of the novel is the communication!! I’m always here for a well-written miscommunication trope, but a couple that actually communicates their feelings is just *chef’s kiss*. Instead of the third act break-up, we have all three of them cuddling in Bebe’s luxurious bed and talking about their relationship and how it will all work out. Throughout the book, there’s a list that they amend and update for how their relationship will work. I think this should just be standard for all relationships.
The novel was adorable, low drama, romance that makes for a perfect cozy, summer read. Is there such a thing as cozy summer? Eh, don’t care, I’m going for that description.
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